Federigo Tozzi (born 1 January 1883 in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

; died 21 March 1920 in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

) was an Italian writer.

Biography

He was the son of an innkeeper. Tozzi failed to complete his secondary education, and read his way into Italian literature in Siena public library. He initially worked as a railway official, but took over running the family inn after his father's death. In 1900 he founded the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

, bi-weekly magazine ''La Torre'' with his friend and long-time collaborator Domenico Giuliotti. His first published works were the undistinguished poems of ''La zampogna verde'' (1911) and ''La città della vergine'' (1913). In 1914 he took up a precarious existence as a literary journalist in Rome, where he knew Pirandello, who subsequently supported him. His literary acquaintances expanded to include Grazia Deledda, Goffredo Bellonci, and Sibilla Aleramo. He now completed his most important works, ''Con gli occhi chiusi'' (1919), ''Tre croci'' (1920), and ''Il podere'' (1921). All three are deeply rooted in the countryside around Siena, which provides the setting and basic constraints for the characters, though there is also a strong autobiographical element deriving from Tozzi's conflicts with his peasant father. The narrative minutely investigates the passions and dysfunctions of individuals torn between greed and disabling psychological weaknesses as they struggle vainly to gain and hold onto property and to realize dreams that ultimately can only destroy them. In literary terms Tozzi is indebted to the provincial Tuscan narrative tradition represented by Ferdinando Paolieri and Renato Fucini, but he also learnt from Verga and Dostoevsky, from the new psychology of

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...

, and from the neurological research of

Paul Janet Paul Alexandre René Janet (; 30 April 1823 – 4 October 1899) was a French philosopher and writer. Biography Born in Paris, he became professor of moral philosophy at Bourges (1845–1848) and Strasbourg (1848–1857), and of logic at the ''ly ...

. His original blend of naturalism, psychologism, and autobiography had a strong influence on later Tuscan writers such as Benedetti, Bilenchi, Cassola, and Pratolini. Tozzi died in 1920 from a combination of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. Though he was little known even in his homeland at the time of his death, in the following decades Tozzi came to be considered one of the first Italian modernists, and he was a powerful influence on later modernists.

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, ; ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian novelist and short story writer. His best-known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosm ...

considered him one of the great European writers of Italian descent. Tozzi's style is concise and laconic (Piper Verlag). According to

Alberto Moravia Alberto Pincherle (; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990), known by his pseudonym Alberto Moravia ( , ), was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia i ...

, Tozzi was able to describe great tragedies with simple words.

Works

* ''Bestie'' (1917) * ''Con gli occhi chiusi'' (1919) * ''Tre croci'' (1920) (''Three Crosses'', trans. R. Capellero, 1921) * ''Il podere'' (1921) * ''Gli egoisti'' (1923) * ''Ricordi di un impiegato'' (1927) * ''Novelle'' * ''Bestie, cose, persone''

External links

Works by Federigo Tozzi
a
Biblioteca Italiana
(in Italian) * * 1883 births 1920 deaths Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Italy Writers from Siena Italian male poets Italian male novelists 20th-century Italian poets 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers {{Italy-writer-stub